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Booktalking "Book Fiesta!" by Pat Mora

August 6, 2013, 10:10 am

by Miranda J. McDermott

The kids in this book read in many languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, etc. They read by themselves or together at the library. In fact, a lion that looks suspiciously like one of our guardian lions of our flagship library, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building ("the library with the lions") adorns the page that features a library.

Children's families read to them, and they read in transit. Kids read on cars, planes and trains. They read to their pets and to the moon. People can be transported to different worlds through the magic of books.

I love the bilingual nature of this book; it is inclusive of different cultures.

At the New York Public Library, we celebrate books in the summer for kids with parties, free books and summer reading! This book totally reminded me of that; the book is so colorful and festive, and the kids look so happy! Reading for kids in the summer is so important because we want to prevent the "summer slide" (loss of literacy skills due to less or no reading in the summer by kids).